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budrichard

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  1. "There is no REQUIREMENT that one be wedded to a SPECIFIC brand or type of soy sauce for a specific dish." I NEVER SAID THERE WAS! Now that we have a reply, we can get rid of the caps also. You are reading conclusions into my Posts that are not there. Comment on what I actually Posted. If you have another comment that my Post does not make or reference, don't quote my Post in your Post. Quite simple.-Dick
  2. budrichard, on 18 Apr 2014 - 09:55 AM, said: I use a soy sauce from the country whose cuisine I am preparing. I, on the other hand, mix-and-match to my heart's content, so long as it does not actually conflict with what is being cooked. :-) And your point is?
  3. Tempest in a tea pot! I have a full line of Falk copper, never a pit, never a problem in about 20 years of ownership. While my degrees are in Nuclear Engineering, my Master's study and research was in Metallurgy. Salt(sodium hydroxide, NaOh) is corrosive. Stainless steel (SS) can corrode/stain/rust given water and oxygen. Salted water should have no effect on a stainless lined pan/pot in normal usage. What has been posted about impurities and inclusions in stainless steel coming out of China is correct. I wouldn't give the matter another moments thought.-Dick
  4. Never use powder. Best I have found is granulated garlic and minced garlic from Penzey's. http://www.penzeys.com/cgi-bin/penzeys/p-penzeysgarlic.html We do not use Chinese garlic powdered or fresh. Fresh is always best in my opinion.-Dick
  5. There are as many types of soy sauce (shoyu in Japan) as there are cuisines. I use a soy sauce from the country whose cuisine I am preparing. Most notably, Pearl River for Chinese, an organic Korean for Korean cooking and for Japanese we use organic aged in cedar vat Japanese shoyu for sushi/sashimi and Kikkomen reduced sodium US or Japanese for dishes.(Note Japanese Kikkomen sold in the USA has alcohol added as a preservative). The cedar vat aged shoyu is VERY expensive and hard to find. I get it at Mitsuwa Chicago when it's in stock.-Dick
  6. There are many on-line resources provided by both State and Federal Agencies for Food Safety Standards. I would consult those as the providers have the expertise and have conducted testing on Safety Standards.-Dick
  7. I would venture a guess that your older Al Clad was made in the USA whereas the new All Clad is made off shore. All Clad has become more of a marketing company over the years and they claim 'Proprietary' information when you ask them for technical details. I don't own any but they are substantially lighter than my Falk.-Dick
  8. On a Viking, 'Simmer' is just to the LEFT of 'High' and you turn the knob to the Right or Clockwise for OFF. Are you sure you weren't in the Simmer position?-Dick
  9. budrichard

    Saganaki

    Flaming Saganaki originated at the Parthenon restaurant in Chicago in the early 1970's. it's still served there. As you found out in can be problematic to make. Over the years I have found out what works for me. First, no wedges as the geometry makes for uneven melting. You need a flat rectangular piece cut about 1/2" thick, dipped in water and floured put into a pan with melted butter and then heated until you see signs of melting, I then put into my Viking under the broiler(very hot) , pull out, flame with brandy (be careful!) and then lemon, serve immediately. I only use Kasseri but anything similar would work, it's really the shape of the cheese that matters and it should be a rectangle.-Dick
  10. budrichard

    Fish Sauce

    From an Australian review of Megachef: "Ingredients: Aside from anchovy extract and water, Megachef contains sugar and fructose" Red Boat lists 'Anchovy, Sea Salt' as the only ingrediants. 500ml Red Boat 40 is $10 direct from Red Boat + shipping which is how we purchase. Have not seen local sale of MegaChef but 200 ml from Amazon is $16.99 USD. Red Boat is Vietnamese and MegaChef Thai. From my reading the best sauces are only anchovy and salt. MegaChef does not seem to available in the Chicago area but if I find it, I will try blind tasting to compare. I also can not acess the MegChef website to verify ingrediants.-Dick
  11. "I heard on a recent food story on the radio that medium-sized hen's eggs usually come from younger birds, and the large ones from older, so the smaller ones are better quality. Anyone know if that's true?" Not everything your hear or read is factual, in fact much is incorrect. Certainly younger hens give smaller eggs but why should smaller be better? Doesn't make any sense and I can detect no difference. In fact there is no quantifiable difference that we can determine in factory eggs versus the farm eggs we purchase. One would have to do blind testing with a number of testers to try to determine if a tester can find a difference and then whether the tester prefers factory or farm is still subjective. Often what we prefer is what we grew up with or our predisposition to find farm eggs better. We don't purchase farm eggs for the taste but for hopefully the better feed and care of the hens. -Dick
  12. budrichard

    Fish Sauce

    The Red Boat sauces are the best I have ever used. The '40' is used for soups and cooking and the '50' for dipping sauces. There just is no other sauce comparable, available to to those of us in the US.-Dick
  13. Blah, blah is right! Reads like mostly hype to me. I don't go to Farmer's Markets, I go directly to the farmer's and establish relationships. In SE Wisconsin i pay $2.50/doz for XL(sometimes with double yolks) from hens that are not caged and fed corn that is grown locally and ground by the farmer himself to keep costs down. No hype on the carton's which are recycled. As with anything, Farmer's Markets have become a place for the hucksters etc. Ask the seller's where they get thier wares, most tell me that they purchase locally and when pressed, do not have anything to do with production. Caveat emptor.-Dick
  14. Your typical spiral sliced 'city'(water injected and cured) ham requires no cooking, is seasoned and smoked and only requires heating. Throwing it in foil onto a grill for smoking and cooking does nothing for the ham except over cook the ham as you found out. If you want to do it yourself on your grill, purchase a fresh ham, season and smoke slowly on your grill or smoker for 4-6 hours until tender.-Dick
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